-
nick parkinson
Japanese boxing rivals Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani set up one of the biggest fights for 2026 after registering victories on Saturday.
Undisputed junior featherweight champion Inoue (32-0, 27 KOs) defeated David Picasso by unanimous scores of 119-109, 120-108 and 117-111 at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, Nakatani (32-0, 24 KOs) made a winning debut at junior featherweight but faced the toughest fight of his career to earn a unanimous points decision (115-113, 115-113 and 118-110) victory over Sebastian Hernandez.
Inoue vs. Nakatani would be the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history and would feature two of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters, both undefeated, facing each other for Inoue’s 122-pound title belt.
It was no masterpiece from Inoue vs. Picasso, as it lacked a knockout finish, but the dominant victory set up the first megafight of 2026. It remains to be seen whether English heavyweight rivals Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, the former world champion, will face each other after five years of attempts, speculation and incomplete agreements.
The 32-year-old Inoue, world champion in four weight classes, defended the junior featherweight title for the seventh time as he relentlessly punched Picasso and repeatedly targeted the body.
Inoue has shown weakness in recent fights – he has recovered from knockdowns in two of his last five fights – but his speed, skill and power were a cut above Picasso in their fourth fight this year.
“I wasn’t very happy with my performance, I could have done even better, so I’ll learn from it and do much better next time,” Inoue said, acknowledging the time spent after a busy year. “I’m very happy that I could win four matches this year, but actually I’m really tired, so I would like to rest for a while.”
Yokohama’s Inoue had to re-wrap his hands twice, but that didn’t faze him as he quickly got back into his rhythm. Inoue showed a variety of punches, hitting Picasso with a wave of combinations in the first three rounds. The Mexican challenger showed strong aggression, but this was Inoue’s best performance for 12 rounds.
Picasso (32-1-1, 17 KOs), who scored an impressive majority decision win over Kyonosuke Kameda in a 10-round fight in July, has a university degree in neuroscience, but it was Inoue who showed the superior ring IQ. At the end of round 6 Inoue hurt Picasso with a left to the body as his hand momentum continued allowing him to easily overpower the challenger.
Picasso absorbed another crunching blow to the body in round 8, and more attacks were delivered mercilessly to the body in the following rounds. Picasso showed great conditioning to survive 12 rounds with one of the best boxers in the world.
Nakatani survives tough fight against Hernandez
Three-weight world champion Nakatani, who is from Kanagawa but trains in Los Angeles, took part in a brutal 12-round non-title fight, which he finished with his right eye swollen shut.
Nakatani, who vacated his world bantamweight title in September, faced the toughest fight of his career against Hernandez’s nonstop aggression and high-volume punch output. A draw would have been a fair outcome in a spectacular co-main event, and Hernandez (20-1, 18 KOs) also had a good argument for winning.
Nakatani later said, “It was a great learning experience for me.”
“My opponent fought very well, and that helped me grow accordingly. I have changed my weight class to aim to become world champion.” [Inoue]And if I get a chance, I will do my best.”
“We both had pretty good wins tonight, so, for next year, we’re going to Mister. [Hideyuki Ohashi, head of Ohashi Promotions to] Decide what to do,” Inoue said of the expected performance.
It capped off a good year for the 27-year-old Nakatani, who stopped Ryosuke Nishida and David Cuellar Contreras in 2025.
Hernandez, from Mexico but based in San Diego, had amassed an impressive knockout ratio below world title level, but this performance showed he is good enough to win a world title.
Nakatani initially took control behind his southpaw jab, then opened up more in round 2 when he landed a shuddering left hook on the counter.
Nakatani landed a spectacular right uppercut at the end of the third as his counter punches continued to flow. Hernandez applied effective pressure in the second half of round 4, but Nakatani continued to find him with uppercuts.
In the sixth round, both of them traded a lot of punches and the middle rounds were uncomfortable for Nakatani. Hernandez maintained his intensity and in the second half of the fight he outclassed Nakatani as he continued to press forward and advance. Round 9 was a belter, and one of the scorecards looked harsh on Hernandez, who showed indomitable spirit.
IBF world junior bantamweight champion Willibaldo Garcia (23-6-2, 13 KOs), 36, from Mexico, Knocked out of his title defense On the eve of the competition vs. two-weight champion Kenshiro Teraji (25-2, 16 KOs). Garcia was reportedly taken to the hospital after falling ill following Friday’s weigh-in. No replacement opponent could be found for the Japanese fighter Teraji.
